Cliff Lee was brilliant against the Nationals last night, hurling a complete-game shutout while allowing just three hits and one walk.
He also struck out 12 and needed only 99 pitches to record 27 outs, becoming the first pitcher since Chris Carpenter in 2009 to throw a complete-game shutout with double-digit strikeouts while using fewer than 100 pitches.
Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com, here’s a list of all the pitchers to accomplish that since 2000:
DATE SO PIT
Cliff Lee 4-14-11 12 99
Chris Carpenter 9-7-09 10 99
Chris Carpenter 6-14-05 10 95
Roy Halladay 5-29-05 10 99
Roy Oswalt 4-16-04 10 91
Mike Mussina 5-1-01 10 99
Curt Schilling 4-10-01 10 93
It has happened only seven times in 10-plus seasons and Lee is the only guy to have more than 10 strikeouts in a sub-100-pitch shutout.
Also worth noting: Of the seven such games, two belong to Carpenter, two belong to retired guys, and the other three belong to current members of the Phillies’ rotation. Which makes me wonder if anyone has written anything about Philadelphia’s starting pitching likely being good this season?
